Will China Rule the World? China and Global Society in Imperial and Modern Times

Saturday, January 4, 2014: 11:50 AM
Harding Room (Marriott Wardman Park)
Charles Horner, Hudson Institute
Depending whom you ask, PRC is either going to rule the world or it is on the verge of falling apart. I myself would merely observe that despite its presumed international clout, China’s actual contribution to the “discourse” of and practice of modernity is meager to non-existent. Compare, for example, Britain’s impact on the world at the height of its empire. In the eighteenth century, a seemingly successful regime in Beijing had a small following among “enlightened despots.” Today’s PRC also has a small following among despots, but not ones as enlightened as even Frederick the Great.